'Strength in Diversity Act' Would Create Federal Grants for Schools

The Strength in Diversity Act was introduced Thursday by Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, and Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn. The legislation would authorize $120 million in grants for "voluntary community-driven strategies" to increase diversity through studying segregation, hiring new teachers, and other means.

In statements discussing the bill, Fudge and Murphy stressed the importance of diversity in closing academic achievement gaps and address resource inequities. Fudge and Murphy are members of the House and Senate education committees, respectively.

Establishing public school choice zones, revising school boundaries, or expanding bussing service;

Creating or expanding innovative school programs that can attract students from outside the local area, and

Recruiting, hiring, and training new teachers to support specialized schools.

"Congress needs to step up and do what we can to make sure school districts have the necessary tools to increase diversity in schools, which we know will help close the achievement gap," Murphy said in a statement.

And Fudge included a dig at DeVos in her statement about the bill: "We currently have a Department of Education—under the leadership of Secretary DeVos—that is actively undermining students' civil rights protections. Increasing diversity in staff, resources, and student populations in our public schools should be a top priority."

Like virtually all bills from Democrats this Congress, education-related or otherwise, this bill doesn't stand much of a chance of passing. But advocates for diversity, such as those who attended a Capitol Hill forum recently, say there are opportunities to gain ground outside of the Beltway.

Categories:

Tags:

Notice: We recently upgraded our comments. (Learn more here.) If you are logged in as a subscriber or registered user and already have a Display Name on edweek.org, you can post comments. If you do not already have a Display Name, please create one here.

Ground Rules for Posting
We encourage lively debate, but please be respectful of others. Profanity and personal attacks are prohibited. By commenting, you are agreeing to abide by our user agreement.
All comments are public.